1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automatic apparatus for shifting a round bale of hay away from a baler once formation of the bale is complete and the latter has dropped onto the ground.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rotary balers for producing round, cylindrical bales of hay are well known to those in the art and normally include, in broad terms, a baling chamber that is adjustably defined by a number of belts trained about a plurality of yieldably tensioned, laterally shiftable rollers. Crop fed through an inlet of the baler is introduced into a space bewteen stretches of belts moving in opposite direction which cooperate to roll the crop materials into the shape of a cylinder. As additional crop materials are introduced into the baling chamber, arms pivotally supporting the rollers shift to enable the configuration of the belts to accommodate the size of the growing bale. The arms are biased to continuously urge stretches of the belts toward the bale and allow formation of a compacted, tight bale.
Round balers are also often provided with a signalling device that alerts the operator that the bale has reached a pre-selected size. Once altered, the operator interrupts forward movement of the baler and a swingable tailgate of the baler is opened to enable the bale to drop onto the ground. In the use of certain round balers, the operator reverses the tractor to back up the baler a short distance before dropping the completed bale onto the ground, so that upon return to forward motion sufficient clearance is available between the bale and baler for closing of the tailgate and a pickup unit of the baler is in proper disposition for lifting substantially all of the crop materials without leaving a length of windrow adjacent the discharged bale.
One improvement provided in round balers in recent years has been the provision of bale repositioning apparatus for rolling completed bales discharged on the ground in a rearwardly direction away from the baler so that the operator need not back off the windrow before dropping the bales onto the ground. The repositioning apparatus may take the form of a large U-shaped member shiftable from a retracted position below an outlet of the baler and toward an extended position for engaging and urging the bale away from the baler. In some instances, a controller automatically shifts the repositioning member to move the bale once the tailgate has opened to discharge the bale onto the ground.
Normally, tension exerted by the belts on the bale cause the latter to readily fall from the baling chamber and onto the ground as soon as the tailgate is opened. In occasional circumstances, however, the bale does not drop onto the ground when the gate is opened and instead remains in the chamber. Consequently, if the bale repositioning member shifts outwardly before the bale is discharged and the bale subsequently falls in the space between the U-shaped repositioning member and the remainder of the baling apparatus, the bale will become effectively caught by the repositioning apparatus and a substantial effort must then be undertaken to free the bale.
In addition, the driver of the tractor cannot easily discern whether or not a completed bale has dropped onto the ground after the tailgate is opened, inasmuch as the height and width of round balers substantially block the driver's field of vision toward areas behind the baler. As such, a need exists for a device that prevents a bale from falling within the confines of the repositioning member.